Panthers' Newton released from the hospital after car accident

[December 11, 2014]  (Reuters) - Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was released from a Charlotte, North Carolina, hospital on Wednesday, one day after being involved in a car accident and suffering minor back fractures.

Newton, 25, suffered two transverse process fractures in his lower back but no other internal injuries, the National Football League team said, and was ruled out of Sunday's game against Tampa Bay.

"It's going to be a week-by-week thing," Panthers coach Ron Rivera told a news conference. We'll see how he is."

Nine-year NFL veteran Derek Anderson will start on Sunday in place of Newton. He started in the Panthers' season opener, also against the Buccaneers, as Newton was recovering from a broken rib.

A police report said the driver of the vehicle that struck Newton's truck was Nestor Pellot Jr., 46, of Fort Mill, South Carolina.

Neither driver was cited in the two-vehicle crash outside Bank of America Stadium, although two witnesses said Pellot appeared to pull out in front of Newton.

The transverse processes are tiny bones jutting out from the vertebrae. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo suffered two fractures in his transverse process earlier this year and missed one game.

Newton, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in a 41-10 victory over New Orleans last Sunday, had ankle surgery in March. In August, he fractured a rib during a preseason game against the New England Patriots.

"Cam Newton has soreness but is in good spirits," the team said on its Twitter account. "He's excited to be discharged and begin recuperating with family."

(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Susan Heavey and Eric Walsh)

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